Mohican Ice Festival melts away winter blahs

Mohican Ice Festival melts away winter blahs
Mohican Ice Festival melts away winter blahs
Mohican Ice Festival melts away winter blahs
Mohican Ice Festival melts away winter blahs
                        
Considering that the area had just witnessed some of the coldest days ever, it was amazing to see so many people wish that the warm, almost balmy weather would disappear, at least for a while, over the Jan. 11-12 weekend. Huge blocks of ice were trucked into Loudonville, and almost as quickly as they were carved into fabulous works of art, they vanished. Such is the plight of ice carvings, which are at the mercy of the weather. This past Jan. 10-11, almost three dozen carvings by Aaron Costic and his Elegant Ice crew transformed Loudonville into an art gallery, at least for a moment. Warm weather over the weekend reduced the carvings to lumpy ice masses in a hurry, but wow, for those who got a chance to check it out, the 2014 Mohican Ice Festival was well worth the trip. “We actually saw this in the paper and wanted to come here and check it out,” said Darryl Wenger of Brewster. “This is absolutely worth coming to see. It is amazing to watch, and we have loved watching them carve and transform the ice into art.” Like many, the Wenger family planned on being there to witness the spectacle of large blocks of ice being transformed, as if by magic, into various animals and other art forms. Others, like Kaye Ertle and Janet Cook of Wooster, simply lucked into it. “We had heard of the ice festival before, but we always seem to forget about it when the time comes,” said Crook. “We just happened to be driving by through town, and saw it going on and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, we have got to go check this out.’ We are very glad we did, because it is really something neat.” Olympic exhibition ice carver Aaron Costic had just gotten done carving a cockatoo and was in the process of chiseling out an eagle when the two Wooster ladies made their way into the tent. “This is so cool,” agreed Ertle. “He has an amazing talent that goes way beyond what we could ever imagine.” The one big problem of the day was that if patrons didn’t get there early on, they had to use their imagination to picture what the ice sculptures dotting downtown Loudonville looked like in all their glory. That was because 50-degree temperatures and some sunshine helped these stunningly gorgeous pieces of ice melt into nothing over the first 24 hours of their very short lives. The precision with which Costic and crew created these sculptures faded fast. All of that intricate detail, the wing tip of an eagle, the caressing shape of a heart, the beak of a penguin, were soon lost to the warm weather. Perhaps the most consistent comment throughout the weekend was, “It is a shame they don’t last longer than this.” It was a shame, but Costic said that is simply part of the process. He knows that the members of Elegant Ice can’t control the weather. All they can do is go out and perform their magic, whether it is 10 degrees or a balmy 50. “Yeah, you wish they could last longer, but that goes with the territory,” said Costic to a visitor. When something so inspiring and extraordinary comes to life in front of your eyes, it is human nature to want it to last forever. But like shooting stars, these sculptures were here and gone, seemingly in the blink of an eye. For those fortunate enough to see them, the memories and photos will have to do.


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